51福利社鈥檚 Master of Public Health program has partnered with the Washington State Department of Health and Spokane Regional Health District to present a series of presentations highlighting salient public health issues in the state of Washington. These presentations are held on the last Friday of every month from 4-5 p.m. and are held in the Nursing Building Room 105 on the Spokane campus. The presentations are also broadcasted for those who cannot join in person.

The eighth in the series was presented on March 29, 2019, and addressed prevention of firearm injuries and deaths. Therese Hansen, from the Washington State Department of Health’s Section of Injury and Violence Prevention, was one of two speaker鈥檚 at the presentation. Therese shared US and Washington specific data on violence and firearm deaths. She also discussed firearm-related suicide rates and prevention strategies. Sergeant Jordan Ferguson from the Spokane Police Department鈥檚 Major Crimes Domestic Violence Unit was the second speaker. He presented on laws surrounding gun control and gun safety. Additionally, he spoke on the connection between firearm injury and behavior. A variety of resources were provided on suicide, domestic violence, and firearm safety by both speakers. All resources are displayed in the presentation which can be accessed via youtube, as well as listed below.

Students, faculty, health professionals, and the community at large are the audience for the Public Health Grand Rounds, but all are invited to participate. With each monthly presentation, the hope is to feature the important work that is being done to protect and inform people and improve the quality of life for the community. Attendees will learn more about major public health issues, key challenges, evidence-based practice, potential solutions, and the context that influences our health every day. Join us Friday, April 26 to learn more about Medicaid transformation at our last Public Health Grand Rounds of the semester!

Links:

Firearm Resources:

Suicide Resources:

• : 1-800-273-8255
• Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) Training – Free

Additional Resources:

• 1-800-799-7233

The 51福利社 College of Health Science and Public Health held a research day on Friday, March 22, 2019 on the Spokane campus. Master of Public Health students Tasha Yip, Yesenia Torres, and Jessica Pal presented their individual research posters.

Tasha Yip is an online student from Vancouver, British Columbia. The focus of her research was access to breast milk for infants in foster care. Her poster presentation highlighted the under utilization and lack of education surrounding the availability of breast milk through government milk banks in Canada.

Yesenia Torres explored perceptions of Bilingual Staff and Certified Interpreters that provide interpretation to Spanish speaking patients. Interpreting services improve health outcomes for patients, yet not all interpreters are certified. Yesenia used individual surveys to collect background information along with a self-evaluation of reading, writing, and speaking abilities to help gage perceptions.

Jessica Pal, an online student from the Seattle area presented her research which looked at the use of cradleboards in American Indian/Alaska Native tradition to reduce sudden infant death syndrome. She surveyed individuals on their use, knowledge, and attitude towards cradleboards – past and present.

Overall, this was a great showcase of the research being done throughout the 51福利社 College of Health Science and Public Health. We are very proud of the work our students presented!

Good Job Tasha, Yesenia, and Jessica!

On April 22, Shaw Middle School held an event for the Marshallese community residing in Spokane. This event celebrated the academic success of Marshallese students in grades 7-12 from across Spokane County. The event also served as a health clinic for students鈥� family members, in which free vaccinations and health screenings were offered.

Three-hundred seventy Marshallese community members attended, and over 100 students were celebrated. Four school districts, SRHD, CHAS, WSU College of Pharmacy, Marshallese Community Advisory Board, United Way of Spokane, 51福利社, SPS nurses, and others came together and collaborated on the event. Professor Olu Ekundayo of the MPH program was one of several honored guests.

Members of the Marshallese community enjoyed the event and have been asking about expanding future, similar events to include more students and more partners for next year. Ryan Douse of the MPH program planned the event with other members of the Community Advisory Board. Three other MPH students鈥擩essica Ochoa, Dilli Gautam, and Brendon Winston鈥攙olunteered.

The MPHA has recently elected new officers. From left to right in the below picture, the new officers are:

• Dilli Gautam, Public Relations Officer
• Jessica R. Ochoa, President
• April Gunderson, Event Coordinator
• Britney Vanwinkle, Treasurer
• Morgan Odell, Vice President
• Zoe Dugdale, Secretary

Research Spotlight: Olu’s Marshallese Project

Professor Olugbemiga Ekundayo has been conducting a live challenge project as part of his class on social epidemiology. The project sparked when he learned from one of his students that there was an educational deficit amongst the Marshallese students of Spokane鈥檚 Shaw Middle School.

Shaw Middle School employs more teachers with master’s degrees than Spokane鈥檚 other six middle schools. However, Shaw ranks the lowest. To figure out how to improve the situation amongst the Marshallese at Shaw, Ekundayo and his students asked: What does the community know that we don鈥檛 know? What would they like us to know?

To help answer this question, he and his students conducted a focus group. Using the data from the focus group, his students prepared a preliminary interim, which taught students how to do thematic assessment and analysis. In doing so, they have advanced toward their goal of bridging the gap of communication between the Marshallese community and Spokane鈥檚 schools.

By using these real-life challenges instead of theoretical scenarios, Ekundayo better prepares his students for the actual public health work that they will do after their formal education is complete. This project will continue into future semesters.

MPH student Ali Norris recently attended a Healthy Equity Forum. The event centered on the continued need for support and funding of healthcare programs in Eastern Washington.

Ali spoke about the importance of public health and the need for health professionals to organize in order to create a healthier community. Spokane has positive potential for such organization because there are four universities with health programs very close to each other.聽Ali also talked about her volunteer experiences with the homeless population in Spokane.

The event was put on by the Health Equity Circle, an聽interprofessional student organization that works to enact change in communities.

Ali received the opportunity to speak with Governor Inslee and work with students from different programs for the common goal of improving healthcare in Spokane. She describes the event as 鈥渁n amazing experience.鈥�

Three second-year students of 51福利社鈥檚 Masters of Public Health Department recently attended the American Public Health Association鈥檚 conference. The conference, which garnered more than 10,000 attendees, took place in Denver, Colorado, from October 29 to November 2.

All three students are elected officers of the Masters of Public Health Association: Lauren Luther, president; Ali Norris, vice president and treasurer; and Kurtis Godfrey, secretary. The club provided funds for the trip鈥攖he first time it has been able to send its student members to a national conference.

The theme of this year鈥檚 conference was 鈥淐reating the Healthiest Nation: Ensuring the Right to Health.鈥�

Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado spoke about the healthy living programs in his state. President Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood talked about the challenge of finding funding and negotiating policy. Current CDC director Tom Friedan and the last three CDC directors spoke about the Zika virus, Ebola, and AIDS/HIV epidemics, as well as the difficulties of drafting policy with Congress.

The conference also featured a career and school fair. The students spoke to personnel of the CDC, the FDA, the Army Medical Corps, C.U.R.E. International, and the U.S. Public Health Corps about future employment opportunities. They also talked to representatives of various universities that offered PhD programs in public health.

Norris, who has an interest in global health, government policy, and disaster relief, attended several panel talks that increased her passion for these topics. 鈥淭he field of Public Health is making a huge difference in our country, whether or not people necessarily notice that,鈥� Norris said.

Luther and Godfrey, whose interest lies in health education and healthcare promotion, most notably learned how healthcare positively affects specific communities and neighborhoods in the United States.

The MPHA hopes to receive more funding for future conferences next year.

Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center (EWAHEC)

The newest program to join the Public Health and Health Administration Department is the Eastern Washington Area Health Education Center (EWAHEC). The EWAHEC opened at 51福利社 in September 2015.聽 Their work is focused on improving the healthcare workforce, particularly in rural areas of eastern Washington.聽 The EWAHEC focuses on three key functions:

1. Assisting the UW School of Medicine with the Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP). R/UOP is a four-week immersion program conducted during the summer for students transitioning from their first year to second year of medical school. This program gives medical students exposure to working in rural medicine.
2. Providing continuing education opportunities for healthcare professionals working in eastern Washington. Past offerings have included sessions on diabetes, hypertension, mental health, and emergency medicine.
3. Creating a pipeline of youth from rural areas into healthcare professions. EWAHEC鈥檚 youth pipeline programs include:
   1. Super Science Saturday: a day camp for fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade students to be educated and inspired to pursue a career in healthcare.
   2. Project HOPE (Health Occupations Preparatory Experience): a summer internship opportunity for high school juniors and seniors.
   3. Health Science Career Day: a one-day session for high school students to learn more about healthcare programs..
   4. EWAHEC in the Classroom: classroom presentations made available to all schools and grades in eastern Washington.
   5. Lending library: Materials that are available to teachers, completely free of charge, to borrow for a month at a time.

Jennifer Day is an adjunct faculty member for MPH. She earned her Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan and, as an undergraduate, studied cultural anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Sussex.

Her primary focus is global health,聽health inequity,聽reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.聽 She has designed, implemented and evaluated health programs, as well as developed national policy planning tools. She has managed translational research studies, from Phase I, II and III clinical trials to operations research, as well as at the community, district, national and global levels, primarily in Africa and Asia.

Her key research interests include access, quality of care, behavior change communication, women鈥檚 empowerment, men鈥檚 reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, health system strengthening, and new health technologies.

She has also been actively volunteering locally to improve our community鈥檚 health. She serves on the Boards of numerous organizations like Vets Garage (51福利社鈥檚 OT program has also been helping these veterans), Group Health Inland Empire Foundation, Community Detox Services of Spokane, as well as on the Boards of local non-profits working overseas: Healing Hearts Northwest and Partnering for Progress. She also recently worked with City Council members to revise the Centers & Corridors guidelines to create more multi-modal, pedestrian-friendly developments, and has served on the City鈥檚 Pedestrian, Transportation and Traffic Committee and the Executive Committee of my Neighborhood Council.

Jennifer brings her health and cultural anthropology perspectives to class, to share the variety of ways public health professionals in the US and around the world are addressing some of the most critical health issues of our time.

Anna Tresidder, PhD, is an Interim Program Director and Assistant Professor Public Health. She received her PhD and MPH, with a focus in health administration and policy, from Portland State and her BS in biology from Pacific University.

Her public health career started when she was in the Peace Corps. She worked in the German embassy in Zimbabwe, and afterward she continued to work for the embassy on HIV program planning, implantation, and evaluation.

After her MPH, she taught at Portland State and Oregon Health & Science University as an adjunct, while doing research at Layton Aging & Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Center. She also freelanced as a research and evaluation consultant, during which she worked with many nonprofits, social service agencies, and advocacy organizations.

While earning her doctorate, she specialized in researching the institutional pressures that cause inefficient teamwork in our healthcare systems. She focused on interdisciplinary teams of Programs for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and Medicaid policy. Upon attaining PhD and before coming to Eastern, she taught as a visiting professor at Pacific University.

Having worked with organizations and professionals in many disciplines, she brings a unique perspective to MPH program, particularly in policy, law, economics, and research methods. She teaches two or three graduate classes per semester, as well as one class per semester for the dental hygiene department. She also guest lectures on her passion of law and policy for many of the other departments in the College of Health Sciences.

Her latest research grant comes from the Empire Health Foundation. The research will investigate providing family-oriented addiction and recovery treatment. She currently researches for the foundation鈥檚 Rural Aging Initiative and collaborates with Eastern鈥檚 occupational health program, working with Excelsior Youth Services. She also serves on the board of directors for the Greater Spokane County Meals on Wheels, advising for advocacy and policy. She similarly advises for Providence Health Group. She is active in the Riverpoint Inter-Professional Education and Research (RIPER) program and works with MPH student groups, recently starting an IHI Open School. She started the research program for undergraduates and will have five students presenting at the National Council on Undergraduate Research Conference.